Lore Ruttan: From Animal Behavior to Art
Dr. Lore Ruttan, the Upper Learning visual arts teacher, stated that her favorite aspect of teaching art at Galloway is the relationships she gets to build with people and all the wonderful interesting people she has gotten to know, but teaching high school visual arts was not always what she had envisioned. When she was young, Lore wanted to be a ballerina or a musician, but as she grew into her teens and 20s, her dreams of being a ballerina evolved into becoming a modern dancer. Lore’s older sister was the visual artist of their family, so she felt that “there was only room for one ‘starving artist’ in the family,” so she pursued her love of dance instead.
Aside from being artistically inclined, Lore was also deeply involved in math and sciences. Her father heavily encouraged her to pursue these interests in nature, emphasizing the mentality of career-driven success. Additionally, in high school, Lore discovered her love of chemistry and her favorite class ended up being AP Chemistry, partly due to her teacher's support and dedication to teaching the class. This love of sciences ultimately led to her decision to enroll as a Chemistry major at the University of Chicago. However, she soon realized that the impersonal and often unengaging nature of chemistry was not what she wanted to pursue, so she quickly switched her major to biology. From there, Lore discovered the field of animal behavior which combined her love of science, psychology, and the natural world.
When asked about the transition from being a scientist to an artist, Lore felt that “it was a big shift.” Lore taught environmental sciences at Emory for nine years, but she “always knew that it was interesting but not a passion.” At one point, she even considered going into landscape design as a secondary career, but then, she began taking classes at the botanical gardens. Through these classes, Lore discovered her talent for drawing. She attributes this to the hours spent watching her sister draw when she was a kid. When she learned about the field of natural science illustration, it seemed like the natural segue from being a scientist to being an artist. Lore continued her studies at the University of California Santa Cruz in natural science illustration and taught a couple of courses on that at Emory before she left. She then started a business as an illustrator, with her art being displayed in institutions such as the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, the Telfair Art Museum, and the Limner Gallery. She also began teaching art summer camps for teenagers, leading her to her current position of teaching art at Galloway. Ironically, she did not enjoy her high school experience, as she moved around a lot and she never could have imagined that she would be teaching high school art. However, after teaching various art classes to various age levels, Lore found that high school was her “sweet spot.” According to her, this is because high-school students are “talking and thinking like adults, but still have all this optimism and ‘fun-ness’ of youth.” However, she also suspects it has to do with her ability to sympathize with students who are not loving high school. She likes that she can be there for her students because she can be a part of their support system.
Lore is a teacher who has perfected the art of being extremely encouraging while still challenging students throughout the many courses that she offers. She is always ready to lend supplies for a project in another class, give some advice on how to bring artistic visions to life, or just share some of the infinite wisdom that she has acquired from her years in both the science and the art worlds. Regardless of whether you have had Lore as a teacher for multiple years, singular classes, or not had her as a teacher at all, she will always greet you with a smile.
By Leah Medeiros